Switching regulators operate to switch a device on and off, during use. To accomplish this, a typical switching regulator may include an output stage with upper and lower transistors (e.g. MOSFETs, etc.) having interconnected gates serving as an input and interconnected drains serving as an output. In use, such switching regulators are typically not efficient when driving light loads, particularly when the regulators are subject to heavy switching.
To make such device more efficient with light loads, a current that flows through the aforementioned output stage is conventionally reduced by implementing a low dropout (LDO) mode. During such LDO mode, the switching regulator is subjected to less switching and therefore less power is expended and efficiency is improved. While such improvements are known, there is a need for further addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.